The moment James Clesi got the final city permit, he unlocked the doors at Clesi's on Bienville Street and started selling food. It didn't matter that the furniture wasn't ready and he had to set up folding tables. It didn't matter that those first few days he could offer only a fraction of the fried and boiled seafood he eventually planned to serve. Clesi has made of career out of making do no matter the situation.

Clesi has worked in restaurants since he started bussing tables at a Copeland's in high school. But it was cooking in his free time that led to his cooking career. In college and then later with his local kickball team, he was part of a group that set up elaborate tailgates with tents, tables, generators and deep fryers.

"One day it dawned on me, I need to get paid for this," Clesi said. "I could do this."

With a boiling rig in tow, he started asking Mid-City bars if he could set up outside and sell crawfish. Eventually, he got a fixed address inside Banks Street Bar from 2015 until 2017.

Clesi's also took over the kitchen at Trèo on Tulane Avenue in 2018. That bar is currently for sale, but Clesi's will remain at Trèo as long as the owners want him to stay.

On Bienville Street, Clesi was able to build the kind of place that fit his style. The building, which used to be E&G Pest Control, has a bigger kitchen than Clesi has had before. He makes po-boys, fried seafood platters with monster-sized shrimp and items like boudin bites and jambalaya cheese fries that reveal his tailgating roots.

"I'm not a master of cuisine. I just know the food that I like to cook," Clesi said.

For the first time, Clesi has a bar and can sell alcohol.

The heart of Clesi's, however, is outside. That's where most of the seats are on a wide, shaded deck. And that's where Clesi keeps his boiling rig. Right now, he is boiling shrimp and crabs. Clesi, though, is counting down the days until crawfish return.